Brokeback Mountain

#3 - Brokeback Mountain

 

 

SUMMARY (skip if you don't want spoilers)

Two cowboys, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, spend a summer together in a job up on Brokeback Mountain and end up in a physical relationship that spans for the rest of their life, always returning back to Brokeback Mountain, until life starts to get in the way of the two of them being able to see each other and things begin to be uncomfortably strange.

REVIEW

This movie was one that, I’ll admit, I avoided watching for many years because of the jokes that were made about it.  I had created a pre-conceived notion created in my mind before I’d even seen the movie, but it was quickly erased as I watched the opening sequence and immediately picked up on the true mood of the movie.  There is a silence about the movie throughout, but when there is music, it is of a singular theme that resonates with the relationship of the two men.

When the men’s relationship is contrasted with their relationships with their female significant others, you can see the emotional disconnect that shows how strong the men’s relationship truly is.  I was amazed by the passion that Jake Gyllenhall and Heath Ledger bring to their roles, and how believable it was.  They are both heterosexual, but they performed so brilliantly and so convincingly, that I found myself rooting for their relationship throughout and resenting their relationships with their wives.

 

 

 

 

The stunning vistas combined with the solidarity of the two characters truly pulled at my heart strings, and made me understand why this movie won three Academy Awards.  The acting is amazing, and I barely noticed the fact that Anne Hathaway was in the movie.  I only noticed Ledger and Gyllenhall, and their amazing chemistry and the wonderful angst that they portrayed in the roles of Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist.

I would highly recommend this movie, but a warning…it has a seventies-style ending.  However, this movie has made it into my top-ten favorite love stories and will forever hold a special place in my heart.